Land Reforms

5 Land Reforms

5.1 Land Rights before Independence

zamindars
In India, during the Mughal period (before 1765), Emperor
behalf of the
or "revenue Collectors" collected revenuC on
Mughal Emperor, whose representatives or Diwan supervised
their activities. The zamindar served as an intemediary who Nawab/Diwan
after
procured cconomic rent from the cultivator and
withholding a percentage for his OWn expenses, made
Mughal
available the rest, as revenue to the State. Under thc Zamihdars
system, the land itself bclonged to State (People, Territory, (Revenue Collecters)
Govermment and Sovereignty) and not to the zamindar, who
Nawabs of
could transfer only his right to collect rent. The
Peasants
Bengal ruled the area under the Mughal Empire through their
feudal chiefs.

Companv commenced from 1757, after the battle

In India, the rule of the British East India The
was defeated by the Company.
of Plassey, in which the nawab of Bengal (Sirajudaulla)
forced Emperor Shah Alam ll to
battle of Buxar consolidated the Company's power and
1765 in Bengal and Bihar (later
surrender the DiwaniRights (the right to collect revenue) in
the Company started exercising the Diwani Rightsover Orissa also).

Warren Hastings, the first Governor General of Bengal (1772 - 1785)

introduced the Five-Year Settlement
Warren Hastings, the first Governor General, had
the highest bidder for
according to which the right of collection of land evenue was gjven to
system was that, at the time of
five years on contract basis. But the problem with this
the tax, used to make
auctions the new contractors, who had no expericnce of realization of
treasury. This
such a high bid, that they failed to deposit the amount of the bid in the royal
introduced instability in the Company's revenue at a time when the Company was hard
pressed for money.

Though the amount of land revenue was pushed high by zamindars and other speculators
bidding against cach other, the actual collection varied from year to year and seldom came
up to official expectations. Moreover, neither the peasant nor the zamindar would do
anything to improve cultivation when they did not know what the next year's assessment
would be or who would be the next year's revenue collector.

Lord Cornwallis, Governor General of Bengal (1786 - 1793) and the Permanent
Settlement of Revenue Administration:

Since the carlier svstem introduccd bv Hastungs proved eiectUVe lor the peasants and the
Company both, Lord Cornwallis introduced the Pemanent Settlement in Bengal. Bibar and
0disha in 1793 which continued in India ill Inda achieved its Ireedomn. Its
chief aim Was to
impart stabilit to the revenue System. He did exhaustive survev of the past
records ond
the basis of past 10 vears, he fxed how much
revenue Can be Collected from he entire lond
and fixed the amount to be collected for future vears.
 land Reforms

Features:
Before the coMmencement of the tenure of Cormw:allis. the landlords werc not
considered to be the owners of the land. By the permanent setement, the landlords
were accepted to be the ovwners of the land in place of peasants. The revenue bCgan tO
le realized from the landlords instead of from the farmers.
The Zamindars and revenue colleetors were converted into landlords. They were not
only to act as agents of the Govemment in collecting land revenue fron the peasants
but also to become the owners of the entire land in their zamnindaris. Their right of
OWnership was made hcreditarvy and transferable.

Ryotwari Settlement:
The Rvotwari settlement was introduced by Thonas Munro and Alexander Recd in Bormbay
and Madras Presidencies in 1820. In these arcas, there were no zamindars and Land
revenue settlement was made dircctly with the peasants called Rvots, thus no
intermediaries were involved.

Features:
The land revenue demand was fixed by the state which was exorbitantly high.
The cultivator or ryot was recognized as the owner of the land. Each peasant was given
a "patta" by the government which was a piece of document confirming the ownership
right of the ryot/peasant.
While in theory, the ryotwari conferred rights on the actual landowners, in reality, the
actual cultivator was often different from the owner.
The ryotwari settlement was not made permanent and was revised periodically after 20
to 30 years.
The Government retained the right to enhance land revenue at will.

Mahalwari System:
Mahalwari system was a modified version of the zamindari settlement and was introduced
in the Ganga valley, the North-West provinces, parts of Central India and the Punjab. The
revenue settlement was to be made at the village (which were called estates or mahal) level
i.e. the village collectively paid revenue to the state.

Comnon to all the systems in force was the fuct that the British had nfairly distorted the
land rights of the peasants in India. They had completed a scientific sunvey of lnd nd
recorded the rights of the owners in their reenue records, while leaving unrecorded the
entitlements of the actualcultivators, sharecroppers, tenants, and lessees. Duning Brtish rule,
the ouner's land could be attached and sold to collect revenue, nd the purchaser could
obtain sound title to the land.

5.2 Land Re forms post-inde pendence

"Land is a state su bject and the system of land records managennent varies lromstate lo
state, often even within a state, depending upon their historical evolution and local
raditions. Severaldepartments are involved in managing land recors in most of the states,
and the citizen has to approach three to four, or even morr, agenciCs lor complete land
records, e.g.,, Revenue Departmcnt for textual records and mutalions; Survey &Selenent
(or Consolidation) Department for the maps: Registration Departnent for veification of
encumbrances and registration of transler, mortgage, etc:; the Panchavats (in sOme States,
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 Land Reforms

for mutation), and the mumip:al authorities (for urlban land records), lcading to waste of
time, exposue to rent scckIng, and haraSSmet

Land reform usually eers to rdistribution of land from rich to poor. More broadly, it
includes regulation of ownership. operation, leasing, sales, and inheritance of land. In an
agrarian cconomy like India with gTat scarcily and unequal distribution of land. couplcd
with a large massof below poverty line nal population,there are compelling economic and
political arguments for land relorm. At the time of independence, ownership of land was
concentrated in the hands of a few. This led to the exploitation of the farners and was a
major hindrance towards the socio-cconomic development of the rural population. Equal
distribution of land was therefore an area of focus of Independent India's goernment, and
land reforms were seen as an important pillar of a strong and prosperous country. Not
surprisingly, it received top priority on the policy agenda at the time of Independence. In the
decades following independence, India passed a significant body of land reform legislation.
The Constitution of 1949 left the adoptionand implementation of land and tenancy reiorms
to state govemments. This led toa lot of variation in the implementation of these reiorms
acrosS states and Over time.

Following are the major land reforms introduced in India after independence:

1. Abolition of Intermediaries - zamindars, jaghirdars etc.

The main aim of the abolition of intermediaries was to bring the cultivator into direct
relationship with the government. By 1949, zamindai abolition bills were introduced in
anumber of provinces with the report of UP Zamindari Abolition Committee acting as
the initial model for many others. The zamindars in various partS of the country moved
to couts and challenged the constitutionality of the law permitting zamindari abolition
and raised issues like violation of right to property and unjustness of the
amendments
Compern sations. The government responded by getting the constitutional
passed (first, fourth and seventeenth) and strengthening the hands of the State
legislatures by making the question of violation of any fundamental right or
insufficiency of compensation not permissible in the courts.

Considering the entire process occurred in a democratic framework, with virtually no

coercion or violence being uscd, it was completed in a remarkably short period and most
of the provinces passed the zamindari abolition acts by 1956. This was partly because
zamindar as aclass had been isolated socially during the national movement itself as
they were seen as part of the imperialist camp. The abolition of zamindari was quite
successful and about two crore erstwhile tenants became landowners.

A major difficulty in implementing the zamindari abolition acts was the abscnce of
adequate land records. The major weaknesses in the manner in which some of the
clauses relating to zamindari abolition was implemented was that in various parts of the
Countn, the zamindars were permitted to retan lands that were declared to be und,..
their 'personal culivaion'. Whal constituted personal culivation' was verv looselv
defined 'making it possible for not only those wh0 illed the soil, but also those who
supervised the land persOnally or d1d so througn a relative, or provided capital and
credit to the land. t0 call themsclves a cuiVator. There was no Imit
on the siz of the
lands that could be declared to be under the personal
cultiVation' of the zamindars

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 Land Reforms

2. Tenancy Reforms
Under the Zamindari and ivotTarn sstems, tenmev Cultivation had bcen quite commnon
in India. The wCe boadk three Calegoies of teats

land. They had

Occupancv tenants cnjOvCd pemanent and heritable nghts on
landlords for any
security of tnur and could clam compensaion fron the
improvementaffected on the land.
cxorbitant rent to the
Tenants at will - did not havc seCUrity of tenure, made to pay
desired.
landlords and could be evicted fromthe land whenever landlord so
The Sub tenants-were apponted by the occupancy tenants.

and 60's and the main objectives of the

The tenancy reforns were introduced in 1950's
reforms were:
who had cultivated a piece of land
To guarantee security of tenure to tenants
met only with limited
continuously for a fixed number of years, say six yearS
success.
to a fair level which was generally
To seek the reduction of rents paid by tenants
one-sixth of the value of the gross
considered to range between one-fourh to
of tenanry which had secured
produce of the leased land - only the upper stratum
from a landowner, was able to
occupancy rights and was often indistinguishable
enforce the pavment of legal rates of rent.
ownership of the lands he cultivated
The tenant should gain the right to
subject to certain restrictions - achieved only partially.

to the tenancy being pushed

Tenancy reforns introduced in many states led
tenants were now called farm
underground i.e., it continued in aconcealed form. The
status. In the early years of land
servants' though they continued in exactly the same
surprisingly the latter were
reform, tenants were often converted to sharecroppers, as
under the existing tenancy
not treated as tenants and therefore were not protected
treated as tenants and
legislation in some states as in UP. Only cash rent pavers were
produce
not those who paid fixed produce rents or those who paidaproportion of total
to the insecurity of tenants
as rent i.e. sharecroppers. Perhaps, wvhat contributed most
not ecorded and
was the fact that most tenancies were oral and informal, i.e. thev were
the tenants therefore could not benefit from the legislation in their favor.

3. Ceilings on size of Landholdings and its distribution

The landceiling acts define the size of land that an individual/family can own. The main
objective of the ceiling legislation was redistribution of the surplus land to the landless
so that to make land distribution more equitable.

By early 1960's allthe Stategovernments had passed the land ceiling acts but till 1970
not a single acre was declared surplus in most of he large states. The ceiling limits
fixed under the act varied from State to State. To bring uniformity across the states, a
new land ceiling policy was cvoved in 1971l. In 1972, national guideines were issued
with ceiling limits as 10- 18 acres for best land, 18-27 acres lor second class land and
for the rest with 27-54 acreswith a slightly higher limit in the hilly and desert areas.

The ceiling reform met only with partial success as one

of the major weaknesses of the
Ceiling Legjslations was that a large numbr of
Cxempions lo the ceiling imis were
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 Land Reforms

remitted by for tca, coflee and rnubber plantations, orchards, specialized farms operated
bv sugar factories and clhiently managed fams on which heavy investments had been
made. A number of other factors such as cxcmptions for religious and charitable
institutions, benami transíers, falsification of land decds, judicial interventions,
loopholesinceiling laws, non-availability of land records, incfficient administration and
lack of political-will ctc. account for the failure of the land ceiling. Further, generally
poor quality of surplus lands and lack of financial and institutional support to bring
these lands under cultivation was also a major issue in the implementation of the
ceiling reform.

4. Consolidation of land holdings:

Consolidation of land holdings means bringing together the various small plots of land
of a farner scattered all over the village as one compact block, either through purchase
orexchange of land with othes. The average size of holdings in India is very small. The
size of the holdings is decreasing but number of holdings is increasing over time. This is
due to the inheritance laws because of which farms are being subdivided and
fragmented with every passing generation. Subdivision and fragmentation of holdings
results in several disadvantages such as wastage of land, difficulties in land
management, difficulty in the adoption of new technology, disputes over boundaries, low
productivity etc.

Legislation for compulsory consolidation of holdings was enacted in Bombay in 1947, in

other
the Punjab in 1948 and in U.P. in 1953. Similar provisions were made in
provinces except Kerala and Madras. By 1964-65, a total area of 55 million acres was
consolidated. Those who gained the most were the upper strata of the peasantry tor
whom it facilitated the shift to capitalist farming.

There were various obstacles to the speedy implementation of the consolidation

programme. These were poor response from the cultivators due to the perceived
advantage of having land in fragmented parcels in the event of foods and other natural
calamities or acquisition, complicated process of land consolidation, wide variation in
the quality of land, lack of enforcing machinery, lack of political will etc.

Impact of Land reforms

Tenancy reforms, in total, led to more than one crore tenants getting ownership right in
Assam, West Bengal, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Gujarat.

More than 10 lakh individuals became beneficiary (surplus land distributed to them)
fromthe ceiling laws implemented in West Bengal.
The landlords had no personal interest in the lands they
owned and also did not take
interest in investing on land improvement. But when the same land
went into the hands
of actual cultivators. thev invested and multiplied the gains.

Distribution of land to the actual culivators provnded an

the land into gold'which ultimately intangible incentive to Convert
improved productivitv of agriculture.
It imprOVed the SOcal status of he landlcss and tenants.

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 Land Reforms

5.3 Land Acquisitio nAct 2013

(The Right to Fair
Compensation and
Rehabilitation and Resettle ment Act 2013)Transparency in Land Acquisition,
Introduction: Under the Constitution of India, "land falls under
the state list while "land
acquisition" comcs under he concurrent list cmpowering the Centre as well as the States
to legislate on the matter. But he States
have to frame thcir laws in conformity with the
central legislations and in case of any confict: the
Central law pevails over the State's law.
The original Land Acquisition Act 1894 was a colonial
lcgislation enacted by the British
primarily to acquire private land to lay railway lines and for other such
construction works.
When India got its independence, this Act remained in force and was being used by
the
government although with few amendments till31s December 2013. The following were the
major issues with the Act:

The Land Acquisition Act 1894, of late, was felt by all concerned that it did not
adequately protect the interest of the landowners/ persons interested in the land.
The Act did not provide for rehabilitation of persons displaced from their land although
by such compulsory acquisition, their livelihood gets affected.
The compensation given to the landowners as per the 1894 Act used to be substantially
less than the actual market value of the land.
It did not meet the evolving requirements and gradually, the injustices caused by it
began to generate resistance in the society, causing abandonment of several projects,
including the Tata Motors' small car project at Singur.
Tosay the least, the Act had becomeoutdated (120 years old) and needed to be replaced
by fair, reasonable and rational enactmernt in tune with the constitutional provisions,
particularly, Article 300A of the Constitution.

When we adopted the Constitution after independence, the right to property was a
eliminated the
fundamnental right. In the vear 1978, the 44th Constitutional Amendment
(Article 31 was
right to acquire, hold and dispose of property as a fundamental right
the Constitution, Article
repealedand Article 19 was amended). However, in another part of
property except by the
300(A) was inserted to affirm that no person shall be deprived of his
the term "eminent
authority of law. This power of compulsory acquisition is described by
an individual even
domain". It is the power the government has to obtain the property of
to seize land to be used in
without the person's full consent. This allows the government
landowner gets compensated
public enterprises such as roads; schools or utilities and the
domain power for all
for the land at fair market value. Government uses this eminent
a constitutional or
forceful acquisitions of land. So now, the nght to property is just
statutory right.

The Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition,

Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act 2013 (shortly "LA Act 2013"): The LA Act 2013
was passed in September 2013 and came nlo lorce on | January 2014. The LA Act 2013
can be used for acquisitionof land only lor public purpose projects. The following category
of projects cones under public purpoSe projeCts:
Projccts for strategic purp0ss reating to naval, military, air force including cenl ral
paramilitary forces or any work vital to national seCuntyor projects of PSUs.
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 Land Reforms

Projects for infrastructure like railways, highways, roads, ports, power plants, industrial
coridors, mining, ago prOCC ssing, warehousing.
Goremment aided or administered cducational and research institutions excuding
private hospitals, private educational institutions and private hotels
Projects for project affected families
for residential purposes for the p0or and landless etc.

Applicability
The LA Act 2013 applies in the following conditions:
use, hold and
When the appropriate (Central or State) govt, acguies land for its own
control (including PSUs) for public purpose (no consent required).
projects
When the appropriate govt. acquires land for Public Private Partnership (PPP)
that
the condition
(ownership of land lics with the government) for public purpose on
(owners of land) has been obtained.
prior consent of at least 70% of the affected families
private companies for publc
When the appropriate government acquires land for families
consent of at least 80% of the affected
purpose on the condition that prior
(owners of land) have been obtained.

Salient Features:
features of the LA Act 2013:
The following are some important
property
and immovable
Compensation: It is equal to the Market Value of land case of rural
urban land and multiplied by 2in
()
multiplied by a factor of 1in case of multiplying factor will
land lies between urban and rural area then the
land. In case the from the urban area.
between 1and 2 depending on the distance of the project equal to
be
above, a "Solatium" (compensation for emotional attachment)
In addition to the compensation stands
above compensation shall also be given. So, the total
100% of the market value for
Market Value for urban areaand four times the
out to be twice the
rural area.

acquisition of irrigated multi-cropped land other than under

(ü) The Act prohibits restriction does not apply to project
which are linear in
exceptional circumstances. This
canals, railways & power lines.
nature such as roads, irrigation circumstances as
in case of exceptional
Multi-cropped irigated land can be acquired govemments to
the Act empowers the State
demonstrable last resort and in that case, agricultural land
limits on the acquisition of multi-cropped land, acquisition of
fix the
andlimits of private purchase.

Assessment (SIA): Whenever the govermment intends to acquire land, it

(üi) Social Impact
case may be in the affected area and
shall consult the Panchayat, Municipality as the available the æort
them and it shall make
carry out an SIA study in consultation with
include the following:
to the general public. The SIA report shall

Whether the proposed acquisition Serves public purpose

Estination of affected and displaced families
Rytent of land. houses, settlements and other common properties likek t0 be
affected
Whether the cxtent of land proposed for acquisition is the absolute bare minimum

196
 Land Reforns

Whether land acquisition at an altemate place has becn considcrcd and

feasible found not
Study of social impacts of lhe projcct, its cost and overall cost of the
the benefits of the prOjcct project vis-a-vis

The prOcess of obtaining consent shall be caried out along wvith the SIA study.

(iv) Rehabilitation and Resettlement (R&R): The project affected families shall be
providcd with the following in addition to the compensation mentioned in point (i) abOve:
Ajob (where job is cnated) or onetime payment of five lakhs per affected farnily or
monthlv pavment of Rs 2000 (linked to CP) for 20 years
One time "Resettlement Allowance" of Rs. 50,000/- for cach affected family
Each affccted family shall get monthly subsistence allowance of Rs. 3000 for one
Vear

In case of displacement, if ahouse is lost, the person should be provided with

Constructed house

Comment: The new LA Act 2013 has sought to streamline the land acquisition procedure,
bring about greater transparency and safeguard the rights of land owners to be
compensated and rehabilitated. In setting out to achieve a balance between promoting
industrial growth and ensuring the rights of landowners, the new LA Act 2013 slant
of the
towards the prote ction of land owner's rights. And getting the consent of 70% to 80%
project affected families is really challenging in times of rising population density.

5.4 Model Agricultural Land Leasing Act 2016

states were enacted during
Land leasing laws relating to rural agricultural land in Indian
the abolition of Zamindari
decades immediately following the independence. At the time,
Top leadership of
and redistribution of land to the tiller were the highest policy priorities.
the feudal land arrange ments that
the day saw tenancy and sub-tenancy as integral to
laws that various states
India had inherited from the British. Therefore, tenancy reform
rights to the tenant but also either
adopted sought to not only transfer ownership
of land. However, politically
prohibited or heavily discouraged leasing and sub-leasing
reform and till as late as 1992,
influential landowners were successful in subverting the land.
just 4% of the cultivated
ownership rights were transferred to the cultivator on

the cultivator, many States abolished

In trying to force the transfer of ownership to policy had the
tenancy altogether. But while resulting in minimal land transfer, the
tenants might have had and forced
unintended consequence of ending any protection
tenancy but imposed a ceiling on land
future tenants underground. Some states allowed
this rent fell well below the market
rent at one-fourth to one-fifth of the produce. But since
tenant paying closer to 50% of the
rate, contracts becamne oral in these states, with the
produCe in rent.

Madhva Pradesh and Uttar

Many large states including Telengarna, Bihar, Karnataka,
minors,
Pradesh ban land leasing wilh excepions granted to landowners among widows,
disabled and defence personnel. Some states including Punjab, Harvana, Gujarat,
Maharashtra and Assam do not ban lcasing but the tenant acquires a right to purchase the
leased land from the owner after a speified period of tenancy. This provision too has the
197
 Land Reforms

effect of making tenancy agreements oral, leaving the tenant vulnerable. Only the states O
Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan and West Bengal have iberal tenancy laws with
the last one limiting tenancy to sharecroppers. A large number of states among them
Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu, which otherwise have liberal tenancy laws, do not recognize
sharecroppers as tenants.

The original intent of the restrictive tenancy laws no longer holds any relevance. Today,
these restrictions have detrimental effects on not only the tenant for whose protection the
lawswee originally enacted but also on the landowner and implementation of public policy.
The tenant lacks the security of tenure that she would have if laws permitted her and the
landowner to freely write transparent contracts. In tun, this discourages the tenant trom
making long-term investments in land and also leaves her feeling perpetually insecure
about continuing to maintain cultivation rights. Furthermore, it deprives her of potential
access to credit by virtue of being a cultivator. Landowner also feels a sense of insecurity
when leasing land with many choosing to leave land fallow. The latter practice is becomning
increasingly prevalent with landowners and their children seeking non-farm employment.

land leasing
Keeping these things in mind, Central Government got a model act drafted on
has forwarded it to States to
by an expert panel under the NITI Aayog in April 2016 and
access to
implement it. It secures the rights of landowners while allowing tenant farmers
facilities like insurance, credit and compensation for crop damage.
to tenarnt
The idea behind the model law is to allow owners to lease out agricultural land
make investment in
larmers without any fear of losing it. This will incentivise tenants to
losing it to
improvement of land, landowmer will also be able to lease land without fear of
would
the tenant and the government will be able to implement its policies efficiently. It
land
allow unused land to be used productively, and enable tenant farmers to invest in the
and aCcess credit and insurance. As per estimates, about 18% of land holdings and 13%
cultivable area are managed by tenant farmers.

Important features of the Model Act 2016:

The Model law allows that a person can take agricultural land on lease for cultivation
(agriculture and allied activities)

The model law enables tenant farmers and share croppers to avail bank credit, crop
insurance and disaster relief benefits.

The model law allows consolidation of farm land so that small plots of land that are
economically unviable can be leased out (using tractors and fam equipment is not
economically viable for smallplots of 2-3 acres). Large operational holdings will reduce
the cost of cultivation and increase profitability of farming.

The duration of the lease and the

Oner and the tenant.
consideration amount will b decided mutually by the

Thee will be no ceiling on the area of

land that can be
GOvemment wants market forces todeteMine the size ofleased out or consolidated s the
operational holdings.
Under the new law, land can also be
animal husbandry for a maximnum periodlcascd out for allied activities like
of five vears. livestock or
198
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and to awil
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 Land Reforms

this policy DDA is launching an online portal wvhere vou submit your land to DDA. H a
person contributes land between 2-20 bectams then he will get 48% devcloped land
and Land owners offering more than 20 hectares will get 6% of it baCk.

Gujarat and Maharashtra have already implemented this policy.

5.6 Digitization of land records

States
Govt. of India, Ministry of Finance is nudging States to digitize their land records.
Pradesh,
like Karnataka, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh. Uttar Pradesh, Kerala, Andhra
Telangana and Gujarat have digitized their land records.
better
This will help in creating Online "Mortgage Charge" on the Land which will help in
credit/loan delivery and it will also help in reducing loan frauds as now only those
people will be able to take agriculture loan who are real farmers and own land.

Creating "Mortgage Charge" means transfer of interest in the ownership of a

property /landfor the purpose of securing repayment of any debt.
Now since land records will be digitized, so all this process will happen online. For
example, earlier if a farmer wants loan, then he needs to provide his land records in the
physical form and then banks need to authenticate this land paper (where there were
chances of fraud) and requireda lot of documents to be signed and then provide the
loan. But now all this will happen online very fast with digitized land records.